Research Project Title
Flexible Digital PWM Control for Embedded power Converters

Principal Investigators
Philip Krein
Dilip Sarwate
Patrick Chapman

Unit # 21
Project Overview

This research builds on our prior efforts in high-quality digital PWM [1-4] to develop flexible digital closed-loop controls for power converters. One objective is to develop the concept of a software-configurable power conversion control system suitable for embedded applications. The software-configurable approach will bring significant advantages to power supplies for cell phones and other digital-intensive portable products with complicated power requirements. Many cell phones require separate power supplies for digital and RF sections, and the RF system can benefit from adaptive voltage levels and other advanced control techniques. When multiple supplies are required, the flexible approach will permit their operation and control from a single IC. Individual controllers could then be configured appropriately using nonvolatile memory or with an initial configuration step from external input.